The Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik floated various service-related benefits for teaching and non-teaching employees working in various non-government-aided higher educational institutions in the state, on Sunday, March 10, reported PTI.
As per the statement released by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), the teaching and non-teaching employees working under the block grant system will be granted an annual leave of 15 days. Additionally, the female employees will be granted 180 days of maternity leave for two births, in addition to the annual leave.
The announcement further mentioned that after 16 years of receiving the block grants, the aided teachers will be given their placement scale as per the higher pay scale of the state.
The above benefit will also be extended to the employees of newly established aided high schools, Sanskrit Tols, UP (ME) schools, and madrasas.
Other benefits that were extended included
1) An increase in the ex-gratia amount given to the block grant employees in case of death or permanent disability during the service period
2) The compensation amount for in-service death which was Rs 2 lakh previously, has been increased to Rs 5 lakh
3) The ex-gratia money for disability has been hiked to Rs 3.50 lakh from Rs 1.50 lakh
4) The state cabinet has also decided to provide a lump-sum amount of Rs 10 lakh and Rs 5 lakh at the time of retirement at the age of 60 years, to teaching and non-teaching staff, respectively
5) The cabinet had also decided to provide a one-time retirement benefit of Rs 6 lakh for teaching staff and Rs 4 lakh for non-teaching staff of the new aided high schools and new aided Sanskrit Tols and Rs 5 lakh for teachers of new aided UP (ME) schools and new aided madrasas
The employees of these government educational institutions were unhappy with the decision, and further staged protests, which resulted in the government announcing additional benefits
Who will be benefiting from the scheme?
With the Odisha government's announcement, about 17,500 employees receiving these block grants, and about 33,420 employees (teaching and non-teaching) staff working in 2,560 high schools, 940 high primary schools, 39 Sanskrit tols, and 138 madrasas in the state are set to benefit from the move, PTI reported.
